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Small and Midsize BPO's - are we really dying ?
HI All,
Note :- This story is based on the reality and the consultants my friend dealt with were ;-
- Vinayak Chitlangi - Jaipur
- Ruksha Technology - Banglore
- Lancer consultancy - Gwalior
- Rajkumar - Coimbatore
- Ankit Das - Infinovo infotech
- Ankit Srivastava - Kanpur
- Khwaja sharif - Banglore
and many more.....
Today I may not wish any good times for you. The reason behind is quite genuine and bit scary.
Recently , I was having a usual chat with one of my good friend ,who owns a BPO here. He said "Sumit, I am planning to close down everything and to look out for some job; I cant bear it anymore....Things are going out of hands.. I'm fed up of this "UPFRONT" and "CONSULTANCY CHARGES".. and he stopped."...
I was more stunned than shocked, the reason is simple.. I have seen this guy from the day..he has opened his center some 10 months back and how badly he is being ditched by so called consultants, client representatives and so on...
He started with some emailing process and paid an upfront amount of Rs.3 lakh.. after a month there was only a huge invoice but no one to pay. Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant helpless and finally the project FAKE. This was his first encounter with this cruel and biggest reality of BPO business in India.
He sat quite for some time and again got some Medical form filling process and restarted the things with some learning from the previous mistakes,This time he paid only 50% of asked upfront ie Rs.2.5 lakh and rest is negotiated to be deducted from billing.
He was quite satisfied with the deal but something else was waiting for him and again history repeated itself. The same thing repeated step by step and at the end Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant helpless and finally the project FAKE.
This time it was really shocking as there is more than business which is at stake. Still somehow he managed and cop-up with the condition. He kept on searching for some process just for his survival.
Things again turned up and he came across a process called payroll processing / form filling. He again collected all his energy and "SAVINGS" , and paid only Rs.1 lakh as upfront. The reason for paying the upfront for third time is clear - "No one in the market having "SO CALLED GENUINE PROCESS" is ready to talk without money. They want money first and then only things can be initiated, so you are helpless. Its like a do or die situation..either you pay upfront and take process or sit idle and close your center.
Some how he started the process, but his luck dosen't seems to be in good health and the same cycle of events reiterated and at the end Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant helpless and finally the project FAKE.
It was really devastating, he was just shattered, things just started piling up on his mind. He became almost insane. There was only darkness and no way out. Employees started pinching him for their due salaries, computer vendor was running behind him for rent , office landlord was not ready to listen anything , internet connection has been cut and electricity bill piling up. Things were really in bad shape.
He was having only one way to get out of this mess and that is "Get some good process , run it and finish it up.." . His last search for the project started and he was so desperate this time that he kept on surfing for 15-18 hours a day. Finally he got another one and this time the consultant guranteed the LC as payment security.But the "GOLDEN RULE" remained unchanged. There was an upfront of Rs.5 lakh and that was the only condition for signup. He was guranteeing the payments with a Letter of credit (LC) from domestic bank and so things looked good.
Finally, my friend did , what seems to be the last option , he borrowed some Rs.10 lakhs from market. The reason for double amount includes the incident mentioned above. Before restarting the new work he has to pay the existing debt which includes employees due salaries , computer rent, office rent, internet bill , electricity bill . so 10 lakh was sufficient for him to start.
He paid the amount of Rs. 5 lakh to consultant , signed the agreemnt and started the process christened as "Resume form filling" & "Automobile form filling". He worked on it for a month and parallely waited for his so called LC to be issued. With all the talks and problems and negotiations, the month was over and by the time he was about to raise his first bill of quite a "HUGE AMOUNT OF BILLING", the history repeated itself again and finally and at the end Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant ran away and finally the project was FAKE.
This time there was no scope and my friend was in the total debt of around Rs.18 lakh as per my last talk with him. This is the valid reason for him to stop everything right here and to search out for a decent job and look out for some decent and genuine way to repay the debts.
This is not the story of only one of my friend , but as per as i know its the story of almost everyone who deals in the Small and midsize BPO segment in india.
I dont know, what to ask from you guys, whether i should scream "HELP" or "THROW THESE B******S OUT OF MARKET" or anything else.
To end with , I will say only one thing - Please take good care of your money and be united. Start saying no to upfront and make these so called consultants helpless , so that they will surrender and will shell out the process in an ethical way.
If you have any story to share, I would be more than happy to hear it.
Thanks.
Sumit Rathore
Note :- This story is based on the reality and the consultants my friend dealt with were ;-
- Vinayak Chitlangi - Jaipur
- Ruksha Technology - Banglore
- Lancer consultancy - Gwalior
- Rajkumar - Coimbatore
- Ankit Das - Infinovo infotech
- Ankit Srivastava - Kanpur
- Khwaja sharif - Banglore
and many more.....
Today I may not wish any good times for you. The reason behind is quite genuine and bit scary.
Recently , I was having a usual chat with one of my good friend ,who owns a BPO here. He said "Sumit, I am planning to close down everything and to look out for some job; I cant bear it anymore....Things are going out of hands.. I'm fed up of this "UPFRONT" and "CONSULTANCY CHARGES".. and he stopped."...
I was more stunned than shocked, the reason is simple.. I have seen this guy from the day..he has opened his center some 10 months back and how badly he is being ditched by so called consultants, client representatives and so on...
He started with some emailing process and paid an upfront amount of Rs.3 lakh.. after a month there was only a huge invoice but no one to pay. Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant helpless and finally the project FAKE. This was his first encounter with this cruel and biggest reality of BPO business in India.
He sat quite for some time and again got some Medical form filling process and restarted the things with some learning from the previous mistakes,This time he paid only 50% of asked upfront ie Rs.2.5 lakh and rest is negotiated to be deducted from billing.
He was quite satisfied with the deal but something else was waiting for him and again history repeated itself. The same thing repeated step by step and at the end Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant helpless and finally the project FAKE.
This time it was really shocking as there is more than business which is at stake. Still somehow he managed and cop-up with the condition. He kept on searching for some process just for his survival.
Things again turned up and he came across a process called payroll processing / form filling. He again collected all his energy and "SAVINGS" , and paid only Rs.1 lakh as upfront. The reason for paying the upfront for third time is clear - "No one in the market having "SO CALLED GENUINE PROCESS" is ready to talk without money. They want money first and then only things can be initiated, so you are helpless. Its like a do or die situation..either you pay upfront and take process or sit idle and close your center.
Some how he started the process, but his luck dosen't seems to be in good health and the same cycle of events reiterated and at the end Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant helpless and finally the project FAKE.
It was really devastating, he was just shattered, things just started piling up on his mind. He became almost insane. There was only darkness and no way out. Employees started pinching him for their due salaries, computer vendor was running behind him for rent , office landlord was not ready to listen anything , internet connection has been cut and electricity bill piling up. Things were really in bad shape.
He was having only one way to get out of this mess and that is "Get some good process , run it and finish it up.." . His last search for the project started and he was so desperate this time that he kept on surfing for 15-18 hours a day. Finally he got another one and this time the consultant guranteed the LC as payment security.But the "GOLDEN RULE" remained unchanged. There was an upfront of Rs.5 lakh and that was the only condition for signup. He was guranteeing the payments with a Letter of credit (LC) from domestic bank and so things looked good.
Finally, my friend did , what seems to be the last option , he borrowed some Rs.10 lakhs from market. The reason for double amount includes the incident mentioned above. Before restarting the new work he has to pay the existing debt which includes employees due salaries , computer rent, office rent, internet bill , electricity bill . so 10 lakh was sufficient for him to start.
He paid the amount of Rs. 5 lakh to consultant , signed the agreemnt and started the process christened as "Resume form filling" & "Automobile form filling". He worked on it for a month and parallely waited for his so called LC to be issued. With all the talks and problems and negotiations, the month was over and by the time he was about to raise his first bill of quite a "HUGE AMOUNT OF BILLING", the history repeated itself again and finally and at the end Client turned out to be non-responding, consultant ran away and finally the project was FAKE.
This time there was no scope and my friend was in the total debt of around Rs.18 lakh as per my last talk with him. This is the valid reason for him to stop everything right here and to search out for a decent job and look out for some decent and genuine way to repay the debts.
This is not the story of only one of my friend , but as per as i know its the story of almost everyone who deals in the Small and midsize BPO segment in india.
I dont know, what to ask from you guys, whether i should scream "HELP" or "THROW THESE B******S OUT OF MARKET" or anything else.
To end with , I will say only one thing - Please take good care of your money and be united. Start saying no to upfront and make these so called consultants helpless , so that they will surrender and will shell out the process in an ethical way.
If you have any story to share, I would be more than happy to hear it.
Thanks.
Sumit Rathore
Views: 142
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Subra Sundaram on -
Hi Sumit,
You are absolutely right. This story could just be any of ours!
There was a word 'united' in your last paragraph. That's where the whole issue is!
Everyone seems to be in some stage of this 'one more chance' syndrome, they feel that they will succeed in that chance.
One is throw these 'elements' out. Two, for our survival...yes, we can do a lot together. Why dont we explore opportunities directly with the client, wherever they are and split it up and do it ourselves?
Is it that difficult to get a project directly? Let's start a forum and work in the socialistic mode for sometime. We know there's humongous money in this business. Let all of us enjoy the pie in a ethical, honest manner.
Please, I request all the small/mid BPO guys, lets form a consortium, let's weed out these 'killers'.
Let's get together.
FYI, I have stopped giving this upfront stuff. The temptation is huge...for the 'one more chance'. I will try not be a hypocrite.
Subra
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Permalink Reply by Sumit Rathore on -
Hi Subra,
Thanks for your support.
I really want to turn it into a revolution and want friends like you.
Let promote this concept to weed out all fraudster from market.
Sumit Rathore
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Permalink Reply by Prasad on
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Hi Sumit and subra
What u have told is absolutely right. Many are not disclosing their failures nor their projects. Also i think its the best to unite the people who have centres and proceed directly with clients. If there is a possibillity of this kind of business we will succeed or there will not be any business. Worst case we will not end up with loosing the huge upfront amount and fake project. So guys please take initiative to get this union done.
Regards
Purushotham MB
Advaitha Info Solutions
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Permalink Reply by Rohit on -
Hi All,
I am new to this forum and am glad I found this forum. That being said, the point raised here about upfront payments is an excellent one and it truly depicts the case of start up BPo's in India. I personally know of atleast 4-5 cases where the entire story is the same. Infact consultants taking upfront charges for an inbound voice project and the centre waiting for atleast 2 months to get the payment and eventually they did not.
Me and friend of mine are now planning to start a BPO of our own and the same issue persists; consultants asking for an upfront payment which we are not comfortable with.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Richards on
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People,
Why am I still reading about centers who paid an upfront fee for a process and then discovered that they had lost their money because the whole thing was bogus.
The rule is simple and you need to get your head around it - NEVER PAY AN UPFRONT FEE.
Let me tell you something, a couple of months ago I put half a dozen outbound sales processes on this website, no upfront fees, and an opportunity for those prepared to work hard to make good money. But the truth is that form filling and customer support sounds far easier than outbound sales so I never got the response I expected.
Take a look at all of the big centers in your city, they all started selling UK Mobiles, Florida Holiday Packages and Dish TV. A lot of centers are still making good money out of those three packages.
For those of you who think you are going to buy an 'easy money' process - get real.
Steve
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Permalink Reply by Sumit Rathore on
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Mr. Steve,
Thanks for reply to ths discussion and givng you valuable suggestions.
For your kind information let me tell you one "REAL FACT" about the Small and Midsize BPO's in INDIA. Searching for a "NON_VOICE" project is not about making quick money, but its about starting and maintaining a business.
Its very easy for you to say "START A OUTBOUND PROCESS" , but the small BPO's having investment capacity in the range of not more than INR.50,000 - INR 2,00,000 , for not more than 5 - 10 seats; How can they afford to run the Outbound process, which requires at least 8,000 - 10,000 as the per agent / month salary. And its a well know fact that in any outbound process, you must have the capacity of sustaining atleast for 3 months in start.
So , finally, in short a person requires around 5 lakhs rupees in hand to start and to sustain a BPO / Call center for Outbound process for 3 months. After which he can think of his earnings and profits.
Second and the biggest problem is of "RESOURCES". Any outbound / inbound process demands very good & skilled resources and the first criteria which comes into place is " Spoken ENGLISH" .
AS its a known fact that most of the BPO's are located / starting in tier-2 & tier-3 cities, and its near to impossible to get such highly skilled resources.
For your infomration , I am running an outbound camapign for last 6 months in pune and very well aware of the problems faced in day to day operations. Even I have tried starting a center in tier-1 city, but things didn't worked out. Whereas the investor as well as the infrastructure was in place. The only thing lacked was the skilled resource pool. Candidates are availabe , but needs to be trained alot to get on track.
So, the abstract of this overall discussion is , Its very easy to comment on someone, but the depth of the well can be measured only by jumping into it.
so take great care next time before passing some bold statements.
My advice for you would be to help us in "THROWING FRAUDSTERS " out of market , if not then please sell you fish and keep quiet.
Hope you dont mind it... and by the way....."WELCOME TO SMALL AND MIDSIZE INDIAN BPO(fish) MARKET".
Thanks and Regards
Sumit Rathore
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Permalink Reply by Rahul Singh on -
very true Mr Rathore. i have also seen these type of things happens everyday with many small bpo's.
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Permalink Reply by Tanushyam Goswami on
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Thanks Sumit for your timely updates.In fact we have seen so many xyz organizations are coming up day by day specially in BPO sectors by showing some rosy pictures to the clients & asking for a huge upfront before starting any process which actually in return of big O just like lancer consultancy, elixir info seek etc . etc.It is really a high time now for all of us to unite together to catch these culprits down & throw them out so that at least they'll never ever try to make anyone fool in the future days to come.
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Permalink Reply by Aman Foujdar on -
hi sumeet
this was a very tragadic story by reading this.... i remembered my story i started my BPO in karnataka with 35 seats but as the same consultants upfront i paid 3.5laks to get a process but the same thing repeated to me i have run not run i have signed almost 5 projects in 3 years time with a total upfront of 15 lakhs with the salaries and rents each i got a huge loss of 28lakhs what i got the money from my family to make business it went here only. still now i have to pay 6lakhs to market which i took... now i closed the centre now i am working for other call center..really boss i will help you in all ways to kick this bastereds from this market.
with regrads,
Aman.K
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Permalink Reply by Mithesh pachery on -
hi , all
getting cheated from consultant is a story which every center owner has. The worst part is even after having bitter experience we keep on repeating the same mistake, why because in the first stage itself it become an issue of survival.
I appreciate the evaluation done by Mr. Sumit Rathore. We all are looking for non-voice process only bcoz of its economical fisibility.
I would like to ask you people that how many of us do the agreement on stamp paper & make sure that ther is clause which state our payment security.
After all this what i have done is that the time consultant ask me up front , i tell him , i am ready to pay
,. Go to his place with couple of friends & pay him, ask for the client detail. Start verifying , if verification pass its ok, which is still to happen , as it fails, take the money back & give a good bashing.
I know its ruining my name in industry, but still its better not to get cheated than being sorry later.
Throwing these fraudsters from market is not easy , until and unless we take initiation by bringing these people under law by booking them for there wrong doings.
I still remember Mr . Dinkar Deena from bang lore.
Now if you call him & tel him that you are calling from Ahmadabad & looking for process. He will say he is not ready to give process. Try it , you will feel good about it.
with regards
Mithesh Pachery
+919374767929
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Permalink Reply by Gnana subramanian on -
well that was really good about Mr.Dinkar Deena I appreciate it .
with regards
Gnana Subramanian
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Permalink Reply by ashish kolarkar on
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Hi Sumit,
I appreciate your story and your efforts to come out with scary stories of harassed guys. But this story is really scary as the guy lost 18 lacs and there is no way he can recoup it. It like a lottery game. One keeps on gambling and keeps debt piling up.
I share my account of duping by an well acquainted consultant. He promised to provide us a good process regarding a telecom company. The process itself seems very tricky but we consented to do it looking the big company name. He started initiation of a contract (e-stamping) and asked for the upfront amount. Looking to the e-stamped contract we forked out with his consultation amount through bank a/c.
He promised us to send us the data by CD through next courier. Now a month has passed by but we are waiting for the data to arrive. The consultant is still confident to providing us the requisite data. He is not available on mobile or on the net now.
Such stories seemed common place. The duping of small and medium BPOs will continue.
